FBI counterterrorism chief James Jarboe told a House Committee this
week that the ALF/ELF have committed more than 600 criminal acts in the US since
1996, resulting in more than $ 43 million in damages.

FULL ALERT:

Subject: Christian Science Monitor: Eco-terrorists, too, may soon be on the
run

Congress considers new penalties against pro-environment violence out
West.

It may be the wartime mood, but lawmakers and law-enforcement agencies
around the country are hot on the trail of terrorists.

Not the kind who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last
September, but those who - in the name of animal rights and environmental protection - attack logging trucks, slaughterhouses, fur
farms, and university research facilities.

Congress is working on legislation that would stiffen penalties and
bring such crimes under federal racketeering laws. The FBI is deploying more agents to fight "ecoterrorists." Government land managers are
stepping up security.

For the most part, crimes in the name of animals or the environment are
carried out by small cells of individuals associated with a shadowy pair of apparently related groups that have no leaders or organizational
structure: the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). There have been a few arrests in recent years, but the
perpetrators seem to be as elusive as Osama bin Laden.

FBI counterterrorism chief James Jarboe told a House Committee this
week that the ALF/ELF have committed more than 600 criminal acts in the US since
1996, resulting in more than $ 43 million in damages.

ELF's website boasts of "direct actions" on behalf of "animal
liberation" and "earth liberation" and against genetic research and engineering -
137 illegal acts in 2001 alone. Among the most recent: A fire at a new University of Minnesota's Microbial and Plant Genomics Research Center
in St. Paul and tree spikings in the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho.

While the website offers how-to manuals on such things as "Setting
Fires With Electrical Timers," it also claims to be "a nonviolent campaign, activists taking all precautions not to harm any animal (human
or otherwise)."

Over the years, no one has been killed in any ecoterrorist "action."
But officials reject the claim that ALF/ELF is "nonviolent."

"It's just a matter of time before a human life is taken," warns Rep.
Scott McInnis (R) of Colorado, whose district includes Vail, where a 1998 arson fire at a new ski resort resulted in $ 12 million in damages
and injured one firefighter.

ATTACKS by ecoterrorists are just one part of a broader clash in values
between the Old and New West. Pro-environment newcomers now outnumber ranchers, loggers, miners, and others dependent on natural resources
for their livelihood.

This has fueled other types of crime in the rural West, including the
theft of natural resources and physical attacks on government land managers charged with protecting those resources.

Some experts say this is a more serious source of violence than
periodic attacks by ELF members on bulldozers and mink ranches.

"While the $ 40 million dollars of damage attributed to ecoterrorist
groups such as the Earth Liberation Front is clearly unacceptable and should be addressed, it pales in comparison to the $ 100 million dollar
annual loss attributed to timber theft from national forests," says Michael Pendleton, a social scientist and former police officer from
Washington State who has studied crime in the national forests.

And while US western myth and history includes a penchant for
independence and freedom from government restriction, that history in recent years has included a growing number of attacks,
including fire-bombings, aimed at those who wear the uniform of the US Forest Service, the US Bureau of Land Management, and other government
agencies.

"There are far too many boastful threats about armed insurrection and
civil uprising in the rural West to be sanguine about this situation," says Gloria Flora, a 22-year veteran of the US Forest Service. Ms.
Flora resigned in 1999 to protest "pervasive and escalating intimidation and harassment"
when she was supervisor of a Nevada national forest.

Some critics see the recent political hubbub over ecoterrorism as an
excuse for tarring legitimate environmental activism.

"The 'ecoterrorist' label is a red herring," says Charlotte Fox, who
works for the Government Accountability Project, a public-interest law firm in Washington. "Death threats, irresponsible gun use, theft of
taxpayer resources, fraud, corruption, and other illegal activities are a daily challenge to federal land managers and law-enforcement
personnel."

If the level of political rhetoric is any guide, the issue is likely to
become as hot as a chain-saw blade or arsonist's torch.

"How best to deal with this home-grown brand of Al Qaeda? I propose
that we use the model that has worked so well in Afghanistan," says Rep. George Nethercutt (R) of Washington. "Cut off their funding. Give them
no rest and no quarter."

But Rep. Nick Rahall (D) of West Virginia takes a different view.
"Robbing future generations of Americans of the splendor and grandeur of publicly held natural resources is, in my book, a form of terrorism,"
Rahall says, referring to timber theft.

I DONT AGREE WITH ALL THAT ALF/ELF DOES, BUT AT LEAST THEY AREN'T SENDING INNOCENT PEOPLE TO JAIL FOR 30 YEARS AND REFUSING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.
EVEN PREZ BUSH DOESN'T WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED 30 YEARS AGO.....